A Sewing Journal

Month: June 2015

Post navigation

[Admin note: I moved recently and it hasn’t exactly gone smoothly, so frequency of both sewing and posts will drop off even more for a while yet. However, I am attending Workroom Social’s Weekend Dressmaking Intensive this weekend, so I may do a writeup about that. In the meantime, here’s a review post.]

Okay, we’ve been having consistently warm/hot days here, so I’m discovering what items I’m actually wearing, what’s staying in the closet, what’s coming out of the closet more often than I’d assumed it would, and what of the remaining items I’d planned to make I still want/need.

Two items I’m finding myself wearing more often than expected are my Nevermore dirndl skirt (actually quite lightweight and works great with the color scheme of my capsule wardrobe–I highly recommend this fabric!) and my peach calico Giselle dress (super comfortable despite fitting issues, but nowhere near the color scheme of of my capsule wardrobe). Perhaps I thought dirndl skirts didn’t really fit the silhouettes I’d picked, but I don’t think that’s the case after all. I’m adding the Nevermore skirt to the capsule wardrobe, but not the Giselle dress since the color is so off. (However, I do 100% plan to make a wool version of the Giselle dress for my fall/winter capsule wardrobe!) I think my spring/summer capsule wardrobe is getting too large, actually. But perhaps this just means I should ax whatever I don’t end up wearing much at the end of the season?

Anyway, to organize things I’ve annotated the latest version of my capsule wardrobe plan with some thoughts and updates:

Spring/Summer Capsule Wardrobe Sewing Queue: Annotated Review

Skirts

Oddly, I started out really gung-ho this, but now I think it’ll be set aside. I’m finding that I’d much rather have longer skirts and I have plenty of knee-length skirts and dresses already. I’m pretty sure I’ll be axing this from the list, but I haven’t decided yet whether to replace it with something else (a linen maxi skirt perhaps?).

DONE: Maxi petticoat skirt in black voile, gathered at waist with back elastic

Love it! A pain to iron, though.

DONE: Brown midi petticoat skirt

Works great as an underskirt under dresses.

IN PROCESS: Blue denim Hollyburn–need to take in waistband

I wear this a lot–as is–and really need to get around to fixing the waistband, ha.

Tops

I actually have two RTW black t-shirts that are filling this hole right now. However, one is very plain and uninteresting, and the other is getting a bit worn out. Still trying to decide whether to replace it with a new Sweetheart tee now or maybe wait until the situation becomes an actual need.

If I really need another piece of lightweight outerwear, what I should aim for is a casual, neutral lightweight outer garment for layering to replace the jean jacket, which is too small for me. Not sure if this is really necessary at this point, though linen would be comfy and useable in all kinds of weather, and depending on pattern could be dressed up. Still contemplating.

HAVE: Olive military jacket (purchased, but need to fix closures)

Still good, still need to get more hooks and eyes.

HAVE: Gray jersey elbow-length cardigan w/ ruffles (purchased)

Love it and wear it all the time!

HAVE: Black and cream lightweight sweater knit cardigan (purchased)

Wear it a fair amount.

HAVE: Jean jacket (purchased)

Will be removing this from the wardrobe since it’s really too small.

So I’m down to maybe making 4 more items (or maybe none!) and a bunch of fixes. Maybe I can convince some friends to have a crafting/mending party to give me a kick in the butt??

Finally, I now have definite plans that would require a black gauze peasant dress, so I’m absolutely planning to make one. Whether or not it’ll be included in the capsule wardrobe is still up for debate.

Finally! A bag for my (relatively) new dance shoes. As you can see, it’s the same fabric that I used for my Dottie Vintage Bag.

Same lining, too, of course. Everything used in this bag was from my stash.

I didn’t follow a pattern for this one, just measured around my shoes and added a couple of inches, then made a rectangular lined bag with a strap. It’s got two compartments: the main one for the shoes and the front one (with the gray zipper) for cribs, phone, etc.

This dress combines the bodice, skirt, and sleeves of the Lady Skater dress with the neckline and collar of Simplicity 1699.

But then I swapped in an exposed zip for the lapped zip.

And added a sweet patch pocket.

Main dress fabric is an organic cotton interlock. Collar and pocket are a woven cotton I bought ages ago (pretty sure from fabric.com, but a quick search isn’t yielding the name).

This dress is a bit shorter than I usually like (poor cutting layout on my part), but I plan to wear it layered over a midi-length skirt anyway. I also accidentally shortened the bodice too much–long story short, I failed to take into account the fact that the Simplicity pattern’s seam allowance was much bigger than the Lady Skater’s. Oh, well. I just need a wide belt to cover that up, haha.